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Forget the nonsense . . .
. . . about them coming out flat and taking the Bengals lightly.
That is truly nonsense.
That is just easy stuff to write that has nothing to do with anything.
Let me get into some of the football reasons, not dumb cliches, on why the Jets lost to Cincinnati, 22-6.
First of all, this wasn’t a big upset, regardless of the Bengals being winless entering the game.
Just like when Gang Green lost to then winless Miami on the road, the Jets were just three-point favorites over a winless team. The guys in the desert are really good at setting lines.
Being just a three-point favorite, in pair of games on the road against winless teams, speaks volumes about what the line-makers think of the 2019 Jets. They think they’re a below-average team.
The Jet aren’t better than the Bengals, especially with Andy Dalton back at QB.
And as I said over and over, the Jets lack of an edge pass rush is killing this team – killing it.
So often today, the Jets had Jordan Jenkins and Henry Anderson coming off the edges. I’m sorry, that isn’t going to work.
Both have great motors and are super tough, but neither is a quick-twitch athlete, with a great first step and ideal bend, for the edge rush role.
Anderson playing over offensive tackles is kind of ridiculous. He’s not going to beat them with quickness and he’s not a big guy who is going to bull rush a lot of those massive tackles. He’s out of position over offensive tackles. The reason he got a big money deal in the off-season was because of his work in Todd Bowles 3-4 defense, doing a lot of terrific things on the interior.
As for Jenkins, he gives you everything he’s got, but he’s heavy-legged and has no twitch. Putting him over Cordy Glenn today was an effort in futility. Jenkins is a good run defender, but shouldn’t be used as a third-down pass rusher.
And you give a veteran QB like Andy Dalton all day to throw, and match him up against suspect coverage, he’s going to get a lot done.
The Jets being ranked as the NFL’s #1 rush defense entering this game was almost a meaningless stat. It means very little since they have so little pass rush, and suspect cornerback play (though Bless Austin looks like he can be a good one), why even bother running on them a lot?
Let me ask y’all a question – how are you going to consistently win in a passing league like the NFL with perhaps the worst edge rush in the NFL, and pedestrian corners? You can’t.
As for the Jets’ offense, which had played well in recent games, I think their tendencies from the three-game streak were shut down in today’s game. The Bengals did a good job of studying the film of the three-game winning streak, and they were sitting on a lot of the tendencies that helped the Jets succeed during that stretch. Perfect example was how they shut down Ryan Griffin today. Nothing he did caught them by surprise today, like what happened with the last three opponents.
So Adam Gase, who had called three good games in a row, didn’t have his best outing today.
But one problem for Gase right now is his quarterback doesn’t throw with anticipation, which is very important in the NFL where the passing windows are generally small.
Jacoby Brissett is the same way in Indy.
What I’m saying is they are both young, strong-armed quarterbacks, who can make all the throws, who generally don’t “throw guys open,” but needs guys open to throw.
Granted Darnold’s pass protection was up and down today, but still, he must start throwing more with timing and anticipation. That is what all the top shelf guys do.
Gase obviously knows that. He worked with Peyton Manning, but clearly the coach is clearly not going to get into this issue publicly.
December 1, 2019